Oops I goofed! A Correction re Preserving Paper Treasures

Last December I wrote a series of blog posts about how and where to preserve your treasured documents from the past. In the blog post Preserving Paper Treaures: Step 3 Ready To Create & Store I advised readers to choose a lovely wooden box that would be less likely to be tossed out or the contents removed so the box could be used for another purpose.

Thanks to an Archivist friend, I have learned that I gave bad advice! According to Laura Cosgrove Lorenza who very kindly and gently wrote to me about my error:

"...wood boxes should not be used to store paper, especially contemporary paper (anything much after 1920) or newsprint. The reason is two-fold: the wood is usually preserved with lacquers and oils which are injurious to paper because they off-gas, but more importantly the rag content in contemporary paper is significantly less and therefore the acid in the wood and the higher acid level in the paper fight one another to speed the deterioration process."

Laura further suggests that the Northeast Document Conservation Center's preservation leaflet on the storage of maps, which addresses the dangers of storing paper materials in wood. (4.9 Storage Solutions for Oversized Paper Artifacts) is very helpful for alternate suggestions on storing documents.

Since I do want to continue using my antique wooden lap desk to store my ancestors' paper documents I will have to follow the steps suggested by the Northeast Document Conservation Center before using it for long-term storage. 

A huge thank you to Laura for taking the time to write to me so I could correct my error.
 
Laura has worked in a variety of Archives for the past 8 years and is currently working in a corporate Archives. She's also a Genealogist, Lecturer and Writer with more than 18 years experience. You can find Laura on LinkedIn or posting on her blog The Last Leaf on This Branch 

Credits: "Oops And Right Icon" by digitalart on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sharing Memories: Getting Your Driver's Licence

Here is a Challenge for all genealogy bloggers. I want you to keep a weekly journal called Sharing Memories. Some of you may recall that in 2010, 2011 and 2012 I provided weekly prompts to help with writing up memories of ancestors and ourselves. 

If you missed this weekly series called Sharing Memories you might want to have a look and see if any of the prompts appeal to you. Many readers asked me to continue with the prompts this year so that is what I am going to do.

If you write your own blog and you are participating in this challenge, please use the hashtag #52SharingMemories if you are posting on Twitter or Google+  That way I can provide links to your blog posts at the end of the week. You can of course post your stories as comments on this blog post or in a private journal. It's your choice! The important thing is to WRITE!

Envoy

Do you remember getting your driving license? Who taught you to drive? What kind of car was it and how old were you? Did you pass your first time? 

I sure remember it. My father had died 2 years before so it was up to my mother to teach me. She took me out to the parking lot behind what used to be the D.I.L. (Defence Industries Limited) Munitions Factory where she worked during WW2. 

I learned to drive in an Envoy with stick shift. I. give my mother credit, she put up with the start-jerk-stall and grinding gears of a 16 year old learning stick shift. 

The problem, which neither of us realized, was that in our little town there was no such thing as parallel parking, so I never learned how to do that. Sure enough when I was being tested in the city of Oshawa, the official wanted me to parallel park. I had no clue how this was done, so I just pulled in, nose first. Needless to say I never did get that car in the parking spot! (Aside: I am pretty good at parallel parking now)

To top it off, I was so nervous at being tested that when I pulled out from the parking lot at the place where testing took place, I ran over the curb onto the sidwalk. Oops. 

Ya, you guessed it. I failed my first driving test. The instructor also said I was making my left turns incorrectly (thanks Mom!). 

I am pleased to say that when I went back a month later to try again I passed. Tell us your story!

Is Great Grandpa's Cause of Death Wrong?

I watched a very interesting show on TV a few weeks ago. It was called The Poisoner's Handbook and is based on the novel of the same name by Deborah Blum. 

The show traced several real-life cases in 19th century New York where suspicious deaths had taken place. Coroners in that time were not required to have any expertise or credentials. As well coroners were paid by the case, which meant the faster they determined the cause of death, the more money they made. Many coroners accepted payment to alter a cause of death. The result was that often an incorrect cause of death was given. 

Thanks to Charles Norris, New York's first scientifically trained coroner and his assistant Alexander Gettler, a highly trained toxicologist, determining causes of death became more accurate.  Forensic science became a trusted tool when suspicious deaths ocurred. 

The program was fascinating on many levels and if you get a chance you might want to watch it. It also points out that as genealogists we need to be aware of the times and the culture in which the death certificates of our ancestors were issued. 

52 Ancestors: Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Vollick, the Blacksheep of the Family

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for geneabloggers called Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Amy challenges genealogists to write about one ancestor once a week. 

The only photo I have of Lizzie
on the right

My great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Vollick had what I consider a rather difficult life. I knew she married Stephen Peer against her parents' wishes and I knew they disowned her. But when I connected with the grandchildren of her siblings several years ago, I learned even more. 

Lizzie, as she was called by her siblings, was known as the black sheep of the family. According to her sisters she was a "wild thing". In 1879 at the age of 16 she eloped with Stephen Peer who was 10 years her senior. Her parents were not happy, both because of her age but also because the Peer family were considered rather unsavory. Nothing criminal, but they were a family of daredevils and considered irresponsible. For example, Stephen's brother was the first ever base jumper and his cousin walked Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

The entire family lost touch with Lizzie and she had no contact with her parents or siblings again.

Lizzie's family all lived in the Elmvale Ontario area but she and Stephen began moving from town to town, finally settling in Guelph in 1890. By then they had 6 young children and not much money. My grandmother Olive was the oldest. 3 more children were born, the last in August 1896. One year later Stephen, age 44, died of typhoid fever and 34 year old Lizzie was left a widow with no money and 9 children aged 1 year to 17 years. 

The City of Guelph established a fund to collect money for the impoverished widow and her family. Notices were put in the newspaper asking for donations. Because Lizzie was destitute, the Baptist Church arranged for burial of Stephen (to date I have not been able to find his burial location). In an ironic twist of fate, Stephen's death notice ran incorrectly under the name of his father. You'll understand the irony when you read about Lizzie's death registration later in this article

Oct. 28, 1897
        Levi [sic] Peer died at General Hospital on Wednesday afternoon from typhoid fever.  Leaves a wife and nine children in destitute circumstances.  City relief officer made arrangements for burial and attended to needs of family.  Trinity Baptist church also assisting.  (article from Guelph Herald.)

Somehow Lizzie managed to support the family but I know it was rough. My grandmother never spoke of those days and I always wondered if they ended up in the local poorhouse (now the Wellington County Museum just outside of Elora) 

Lizzie's Tombstone in Woodlawn Cemetery Guelph

Lizzie's difficulties were not over. In May 1914 she died. She was just 51 years old. Her cause of death was starvation. All her children except Edgar, the youngest, had married and left home. It was left to Edgar to provide the information to the clerk for her death registration. In his grief and confusion he must have misunderstood the questions asked of him for he gave his own father and mother's names as the first names of Lizzie's parents. 

So her death record gives her correct maiden name of Vollick. But instead of her parents' names (Isaac and Lydia) it states "Stephen and Mary Vollick". And thus poor Lizzie is forever recorded with the wrong parents and even death was not kind to her. 

To add to the family tale of hardship, young Edgar enlisted in World War 1 less than a year later. He was only 17 at the time, an orphan. Sent to France he suffered as many did through the War years and in August 1918 he was killed. He was just 20 years old.

I am only glad that Lizzie did not live to see her youngest die.

Religious Freedom Day: Ancestors Who Fled Religious Persecution

The Migration of the Palatines. Woodcarving from the British Museum

Today is Religious Freedom Day. It's a good day to talk about our ancestors who suffered under religious persecution. 

The Palatines were a group of German individuals who were persecuted and suffered in their native country in the early 1700s. As well as the devastating effects of war, the Palatines were subjected to the winter of 1708-09, the harshest in 100 years.

At the invitation of Queen Anne in the spring of 1709, about 7 000 harassed Palatines sailed down the Rhine to Rotterdam. From there, about 3000 were dispatched to America, either directly or via England, under the auspices of William Penn. The remaining 4 000 were sent via England to Ireland to strengthen the protestant interest.

In 1710, three large groups of Palatines sailed from London. The first went to Ireland, the second to Carolina and the third to New York with the new Governor, Robert Hunter. There were 3 000 Palatines on 10 ships that sailed for New York and approximately 470 died on the voyage or shortly after their arrival. 

In New York, the "poor Palatines" were expected to work for the British authorities, producing naval stores [tar and pitch] for the navy in return for their passage to New York. They were also expected to act as a buffer between the French and Natives on the northern frontier and the English colonies to the south and east. They were treated more like indentured servants or slaves than new immigrants. [Source: Palatine Germans to America]

The following are my Palatine ancestors: 

• BELLINGER a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• DECKMANN aka DEGMAN a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• WARNER aka WERNER a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• HOMMEL a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• SCHNEIDER aka SNIDER a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• KEHL a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• MERCKEL aka MERKLEY aka MARICAL a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• MULLER a Palatine German pioneer family to New York
• WUEST aka WUST a Palatine German pioneer family to New York

Fascinating Video About New Amsterdam and New Netherland (New York)

Do you have ancestors who settled in New Netherland (present day New York State)? 

If yes, you will want to watch this very interesting 15 minute video called Het Klokhuis: Nieuw Amsterdam about New Amsterdam (present day New York City) and New Netherland (present day New York state). 

The video is in Dutch but it doesn't really matter if you understand Dutch or not. I don't speak Dutch but the video is fascinating and easily understood without knowing what the actors are saying. 

The description of the video reads:
  
Nieuw Amsterdam. Het Klokhuis in Amerika. New York heeft Nederlandse roots! Brooklyn, Harlem, Wallstreet en Broadway; allemaal namen met een Nederlandse voorgeschiedenis. Bart duikt in het verleden van New York dat toen nog Nieuw Amsterdam heette 

Google Translation: Nieuw Amsterdam. The Klokhuis in America. New York has Dutch roots! Brooklyn, Harlem, Wall Street and Broadway, all names with a Dutch history. Bart delves into the history of New York that was then called New Amsterdam

If you can read a few Dutch words, you may want to turn on the subtitles. That is what I did and it helped add a bit more understanding as every so often there would be a word I recognized. 

To turn on the subtitles (ondertiteling), just run your cursor over the bottom of the video screen. A horizontal menu bar displays. You want click on the "T" icon found between the gear icon and the volume icon.  Then untick the radio button "off" and tick the button beside TT888

Enjoy!

Lives of the First World War: A New Project Online

Image © IWM (Q 001580)

Recently Olive Tree Genealogy received an interesting email about a project called Lives of the First World War. 

 Lives of the First World War is one of the Imperial War Museum’s (IWM) major centenary projects, which looks to uncover the life stories of the men and women who served Britain and the Commonwealth during the First World War. 

The platform will bring together a wide range of record sets, including material from museums, libraries, archives and family collections, together in one place, enabling users to explore documents, link them together and start telling the stories of those who served in uniform and worked on the home front.

More information on Lives of the First World War can be found here. You can also follow the project on Facebook and on Twitter

Credit: Image © IWM (Q 001580) published here with permission

Early Customs in Photography: Post Mortem Photos

Some people collect these old photos. I don't care for them myself but I understand and accept that in the 19th century they were an acceptable custom. The custom was at its height in the VIctorian era.

Post-Mortem photos were often taken when a loved one, especially a child, died. Often it would be the only photo a parent had of a beloved son or daughter. 

The deceased would be dressed in their best clothes and carefully propped or placed, either alone or with the rest of the family, to appear alive. Often the deceased appeared to be sleeping.

We may find it morbid but it was customary. Many cultures also took photos of the deceased in their coffin.

You may view an exhibit of such photos at The Strangest Tradition of the Victorian Era: Post-Mortem Photography

Who Are You? Three Orphan Photos

Photo taken in Port Huron Michigan
at the Tunnel City Studio,
728? Huron/Baron Ave.

Recently my mother-n-law gave us two photos saying she did not know who the individuals were. All she knows is that she inherited them from her Elgie and Facey side of the family tree.

Hubs thinks that he has another photo of the same couple when they were younger. But unfortunately he does not have identification of this couple either. The photo of the couple also came down to him through his Elgie and Facey lines so he could be correct. 

We are trying to determine if the couple in the earlier photo is indeed the same couple in the individual photos. If they are, then hubs is going to attempt to figure out who they are. 

There is no identifying photographer's mark on the two individual photographs.

So I am asking my readers to weigh in. Do you think this is the same couple? At the bottom of this blog post I've uploaded closeups of their faces.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: A Death and Abandonment in Australia

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for geneabloggers called Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Amy challenges genealogists to write about one ancestor once a week. 

This is my 2nd great-grandmother Sarah (Elvery) Stead. She is 30 years old in this photo taken in 1866 just one year before she set sail from England for Australia. Sarah was 7 months pregnant at the time, and was with her deaf husband, my 2nd great grandfather William Stephen Stead, and their 4 children ages 1 to 7. They were leaving Ramsgate England to settle in Australia near William's brother Edward Crunden Stead.

Poor Sarah's fate was sealed from the moment she stepped on board the ship Light Brigade. Luckily she did not know what was in store for her. The journey to Australia was not an easy one. The Light Brigade ran into foul weather which increased their travel time. Due to the long voyage Sarah went into labour and a son Ebenzer was born while they were still at sea. Poor Sarah died shortly after his birth, bitten by a flea from a rat and developing typhus. The ship lay in Quarantine in Sydney Harbour at the time of her death. 

Her husband continued his trip with his 4 children and a newborn babe and made it to Sunny Corners where his brother lived. I'm sure he had no idea what he was going to do with 5 young children, no wife and no job. Sadly after 6 months little Ebenezer died and was buried beside his mother in Haslem's Creek Cemetery (now Rookwod Cemetery) in Sydney. 

My mother at the grave where Sarah and Ebenezer are buried

In a bizarre twist of fate, Edward Stead (William's brother) was the official gravedigger there so he dug their graves and saw to their burial. The gravesite was never officially purchased or owned by the Stead family and in fact a few months later it was bought by a rather important family and the head of the family was buried there. 

The gravestone marker only records Thomas Newland and his children. There is no stone for Sarah and Ebenezer but they are found in the cemetery records as being buried in the Newland family plot. 

Now came William's dilemma. His wife was dead. His baby son was dead. He was a deaf man with 4 young children in a strange country and now way to support them. The decision was made - he would return to England where he had a job and family to help him out. But he could not manage with 4 young children. So he took his 7 year old son and his 4 year daughter (my great grandmother) back to England and left his other two sons ages 1 and 8 behind with his brother.

His brother had recently lost a child of his own and one of William's sons was not only the same age, he had the same name! So Edward and his wife adopted the two sons left behind by his brother and raised them as their own. 

William left a copy of the photo I own of Sarah with the two sons his brother adopted. His hope was obviously that they would never forget their real parents. One of the boys left behind died young but the other survived and married and had children. Sadly their descendants had no clue who the lady was in the photo passed down in the family. But one of the descendants managed to uncover the truth and connect with my family in Canada in the 1980s. 

But I often think about poor Sarah dying so young and her children being separated and raised by different parents in countries so far apart. I wish she could have lived and seen her baby and other children grow and have children of their own. 

Best of the Genea-Blogs for 2013

Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs for 2013 is worth talking about today.  Throughout the year there were 174 different genealogy blog writers featured in his "Best of the Gena-blogs" category and a total of 477 blog posts.

It's very interesting to see the list of the top 10 genealogy bloggers most frequently mentioned in the weekly "Best of Genea-Blogs" that Randy publishes. 

Olive Tree Genealogy Blog is very honoured to have tied for 10th place with 8 mentions in 2013! I'm in excellent company of other bloggers whose blogs are a must-read. 

If you haven't read the top blogs Randy recommends you might want to check them out!

Early Bird Special for RootsTech 2014

Good news! 

If you are planning on attending RootsTech 2014 but haven't registered yet, you can still get the Early Bird Price of $159.00. 

Regular price is $239.00. The deadline has been extended to January 27th for this low cost. 

How Did I Do?

Where My Readers Are From

For the last 3 years I've set a goal to write every day on my blog. I'm pleased to say that last year (2013) I made my goal with a total of 379 blog posts.

That's a huge increase from my very first year of blogging in 2003. That year I wrote 12 blog posts! Here's my number of posts each year since then:

• 2013 (379)
• 2012 (407)
• 2011 (423)
• 2010 (316)
• 2009 (263)
• 2008 (192)
• 2007 (114)
• 2006 (17)
• 2005 (86)
• 2004 (26)
• 2003 (12) 

And for those interested (as I am) in statistics, the graphic above shows where Olive Tree Genealogy blog readers come from. Pageviews refers to how many blog posts were read by genealogists and other interested individuals in each country. 

This year I have the same writing goal - to publish a daily blog post. But this year I am asking you, my readers, if there is any topic you would like to have me cover. Is there anything that you want to know more about, or you think would be an interesting discussion topic?  I'll do my best to make sure your topic of interest is one of my posts in 2014! So please, leave your suggestions and ideas in the comment section of this blog post. 

I've already got a few topics listed in my 2014 Blog Calendar which is where I jot down ideas for future blog posts. But I've got lots of empty days that might be perfect for a topic you want to see discussed or explained.

WW 1 Photo Album Archive page 13

Continuing on with my WW1 Photo Album archive here is the 13th page in my mother's cousin Doris Simpson's album. 

This is one of my favourite pages in this album. On the bottom right is my Uncle Ern Simpson. I don't know who the other soldiers are. 

Uncle Ern was stationed at Stanley Barracks in Toronto Ontario but I don't know if this photos are from that time period. He was in a Cavalry unit at one point. 

Challenge: 52 Weeks of Writing Our Memories - Kindergarten Days

My Kindergarten or Grade 1 Photo

Here is a Challenge for all genealogy bloggers. I want you to keep a weekly journal called Sharing Memories. Some of you may recall that in 2010, 2011 and 2012 I provided weekly prompts to help with writing up memories of ancestors and ourselves. 

If you missed this weekly series called Sharing Memories you might want to have a look and see if any of the prompts appeal to you. Many readers asked me to continue with the prompts this year so that is what I am going to do.

Please bear with me throughout the year 2014. I will try very hard to not duplicate prompts from previous years but there may be some small overlap.

We all want to find information on our ancestors and are overjoyed to find an ancestor’s diary or journal. But what about our own memoirs? It's important as genealogists that we not forget about writing our own story.

We may think writing about ourselves is boring or egotistical but stop and think how excited your descendants would be to find a journal or dairy that their great great grandmother (you) wrote.

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories will guide you in writing your own genealogical journal for your descendants. 

School days will be the start of our journal entries this year and this week's prompt is Kindergarten Days. Write about your memories of Kindergarten. How old were you? How did you get to school? Who was your teacher? What else do you remember about those days? If you have a photograph of yourself, be sure to include it in your journal entry. Maybe you have some report cards and that would be fun to scan and include in your writing.

I was just barely 4 years old when I went to Kindergarten at Lord Elgin Public School in Ajax Ontario Canada. Unfortunately the only thing I remember about Kindergarten was seeing all the wonderful picture books on a rotating rack. I was so excited! 

I learned to read before going to school and could hardly wait to get my hands on those books. But my teacher (whose name I don't recall) explained that she read to the class and we were not allowed to touch the books. I was very upset and didn't want to go back to school the next day.

You can write your stories here as comments, on your own blog or in a private journal or blog of your own. Next Sunday I will have the next writing prompt. I hope you will join me!

X-Chromosome Matching Explained

Roberta Estes of the DNA Explained blog has written a very nice article about the new X-Chromosome Matching at Family Tree DNA

This is a very exciting new feature and one that should help genealogists to explore their genetic genealogy.

Interested in DNA? See other DNA articles here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog.











Credits: Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Isaac Vollick the Loyalist

Land Petition of Isaac Vollick as Loyalist

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for geneabloggers called Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Amy challenges genealogists to write about one ancestor once a week. I've accepted the challenge and am starting today with the story of my Loyalist ancestor Isaac Vollick. 

Several years ago I discovered Isaac was born a Van Valkenburg in 1732 in Schoharie, New York. He was the illegitimate son of Isaac Van Valkenburg and Maria Bradt. The name change from Van Valkenburg to Vollick fascinated me, and researching further back in time to the immigrant Van Valkenburg ancestor in America led me on a new path in my research – the fascinating and complex story of the Dutch in New Netherland (present day New York state) in the 1620s. 

In the turbulent years preceding the American Revolution  Isaac was arrested three times by Americans in New York because of his British sympathies. On 15 June 1777 his name is found in the Indian Department of Butler's Rangers at half-pay. [From The Mark of Honour by Hazel C. Mathews, University of Toronto Press 1965]. 

 On page 176, Appendix B: A List of Persons Employed as Rangers in The Indian Department, June 15, 1777*, Pay New York Currency lists  67 men paid at 4/per day and then: "at 2/ per day,  [#]68: Isaac Van Valken Burg " [* Source: P.A.C., Colonial Office Records, M.G. 11, "Q" ser., vol. 13, p.331]

Isaac  is found on the pay list of Captain William Caldwell's Company of Butler's Rangers 24 Dec. 1777 to 24 Oct. 1778. He is listed as Private Isaac Volkenberg, receiving 2/day [Source: Great Britain, British Library, Additional Manuscripts, No. 21765, folios 64-65.]

Many Loyalists and their families were forced to flee the USA for Canada.  With minimal British aid, they suffered the privation of starting all over, facing late plantings, starvation, and a pristine wilderness.

Isaac's wife Mary continued to aid the British, and in 1779 she and the children were taken from their home at North River by American patriots. Their home was burned, Mary and the children were marched 80 miles north through the forest and left in destitute circumstances. WIth the help of Mohawk Indians, Mary and family made their way to Canada and reached Montreal by July of 1779. In July of this year Isaac and his family were in Montreal, Quebec. 

He is with others on a list of "Loyalists receiving Provisions and not paying for same, in the District of Montreal from 25 July 1779 to 20 August following". The family is recorded as one male, one female, one male over 10 and 3 females over 10, receiving 3 1/2 rations daily. On 25 Sept. 1779 they are found in St. Claire, Quebec as impoverished Loyalist Isaac Von Volkenberg [sic]. Isaac and his family received 3 1/2 rations daily, at no cost.

In July 1784 a list was taken of "Persons who have inscribed their names in order to settle and cultivate the Crown Transfer of -- to Niagara" Included were Isaac Volick [sic] with 1 female, 5 children over 10, 1 child under 10 receiving a total of 7 1/2 rations daily.

By 8 April 1784 Isaac had accepted this opportunity to settle elsewhere, and is found with his family in the brand new settlement on the west Side River Niagara, Niagara-on-Lake Ontario. An official survey of the new settlement of Niagara lists "Return of Rise and Progress of a Settlement of Loyalists on the West side of the River Niagara, 18 April 1784" and shows Isaac Vollick with 11 acres and a house 18' x 15'. By 14 Dec. 1786  they were living near what is now St. Catharine's, Ontario.  They also appear on a Victualing List for rations for Loyalists.

 
The Loyalists suffered but survived and because of their endurance, the province of Ontario was settled. 

You can read more about my Vollick Loyalist ancestors at any of the blog posts below:

What's In a Name?

Ancestor Name Changes

What a Story I Have to Share!

Update: If you are interested in the Vollick family I also wrote three books on the Vollick and Follick descendants of Lambert Van Valkenburg. They are: 


From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: The Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his Vollick & Follick Children (Volume 1) 

From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: V. 2 Cornelius Vollick and his Follick and Vollick Descendants to 3 Generations 

From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: V. 3: The Loyalist Storm Follick and his Follick and Vollick descendants in North America

 

 

New version of the Naturalization Records, 1915-1951 database

Announcement from Library & Archives Canada:

Part of page from Naturalization Records online

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the online database Naturalization Records, 1915-1951. The nominal index has been extended with the addition of more than 93,000 names and now covers the years from 1915 to 1939, inclusively. Work is ongoing to extend the nominal index to 1951, and   volunteers are welcome to help. Those interested should write to Cdn-Nat-Coord@jgs-montreal.org.

 

This database is one of the few Canadian genealogical resources specifically designed to benefit researchers having roots other than British. The reference numbers indicated in the database can be used to request copies of the original naturalization records, which are held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

 

Library and Archives Canada would like to thank the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal and its volunteers, without whom this project would not have happened.

DNA Kits New Year's Sale

Did Santa forget to bring you a DNA kit for Christmas? Well  now's your chance to get one! Ancestry is offering their AncestryDNA Kit only $89 plus Free Shipping 

Please note: the above offer is valid from 1/1/14 12:01AM MTN - 1/5/14 11:59PM MTN. Use Code : FREESHIPDNA

You can also take advantage of another special for 50% Off a 6 month Ancestry Subscription, only $49

DNA Results Have Us Totally Surprised

The graphic on the left shows the surprising results of my husband's mother's DNA. 

As far as we knew she was solid English and W.A.S.P. lines as far back as 10 generations.

So the Yakut and Sub-Saharan African DNA, as small as it is, is a big surprise. I looked up Yakut and it is a small area in what is now Siberia so I'm guessing that's pretty far back in her ancestry. 

This is exciting for any genealogist and now hubs and I are embarking on a new quest. We want to see if there are gaps we missed in tracing his mom's side of the family tree. 

And of course the very exciting find which I talked about in a previous blog post called DNA Results Leave us Gob-Smacked!
is that the man who my mother-in-law thought was her grandfather, was not. DNA matches have proven that another man was her grandfather and we've narrowed the candidates down to two in a certain family. 

So I am going to research each of those two men's lines back as far as I can to see if we an spot a black ancestor there. We realize we're oversimplifying this task but we want to take a basic easy approach to the puzzle at this point. 

Wish us luck! Have you had any surprises in your DNA results?